Arts & Sciences News

ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. — Gregory Privitera, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology at St. Bonaventure University, will discuss global obesity through the eyes of psychology during an upcoming lecture on campus.

The program, “Global Obesity from the Perspective of Psychology,” will begin at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 22, in the auditorium of the William F. Walsh Science Center. This is a free lecture and the public is welcome.

Privitera will explore issues and potential solutions to global obesity. Population statistics will be shared for obesity rates and nutrition across the globe and these statistics will be compared to past trends in order to introduce how psychology can explain many of problems found today. Privitera will discuss how our body works, why it craves nutrients that can lead to poor health outcomes, and how psychology can contribute practical solutions for reducing global obesity.

Current issues and potential solutions to global obesity will be shared from a number of perspectives, including:

Genetic (innate likes and dislikes; responses to fat intake)

social/cognitive (how we think about foods, and how cultural/social factors relate to food intake)

biological (how metabolism can make weight gain easy or difficult)

experimental (how we can learn to shift liking to healthier foods)

Privitera, who joined the university community in 2009, holds undergraduate, master’s and doctoral degrees from the State University New York College at Buffalo. His research on behavior health has appeared in a number of refereed journals, including Food & Nutrition Research, Appetite, and Behavior and Brain Functions. He is also the author of several books, including “The Psychological Dieter: It’s Not All About The Calories” and “Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences.”

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About the University: Inspired for more than 150 years by the Catholic Franciscan values of individual dignity, community inclusiveness, and service, St. Bonaventure University cultivates graduates who are confident and creative communicators, collaborative leaders and team members, and innovative problem solvers who are respectful of themselves, others, and the diverse world around them.